Hi guys, I have been struggling for a while now, eSATA cables are such flimsy connections and I seriously hate them, no other word for it..
My home theatre computer has it's storage in 2 external hardware raid5's for which I am currently using, sata to eSATA adaptor from the motherboard, to eSATA cables to the other case, back to a sata to eSATA adaptor to the port multiplier set up for my raid.
The system works great for me, my raid5 has already saved me from 2 hard drives collapsing, I get great read speeds (~130MB/s), write speeds are as you would expect for a raid5 (~80MB/s) and the plug and play simplicity of my hardware raid is great (drive dies, simply take it out replace it and off you go, continue to use the raid while it rebuilds itself)
Now to the real issue here, the eSATA connection, dodgy as hell, the slightest bump and there it goes, I'm afraid that one day, I'll be writing a heap of info to the raid and suddenly, bam, everything is corrupted.
So I have been thinking and I have found something that I would like to try, using a SFF-8087 to SATA fanout cable from the SATA ports on the motherboard, to a SFF-8087 - SFF-8088 adaptor backplate, through a SFF-8088 cable to another SFF-8087 - SFF-8088 adaptor backplate in the hard drive tower, then back through another fanout cable to the port multipliers, this would also allow me to set up my 2 remaining port multipliers for expansion over the one cable.
I just need to know one thing.. SFF-8087 to SATA fanout cables and SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 adaptors, are they multi directional? Is what I'm thinking going to actually work? I know that fanout cables are usually used only to go from SAS controllers to hard drives but I cannot see why this would not work. This set up may be a little unconventional I know but I don't really wish to fork out the coin for a SAS controller card at this stage.
Any input on this matter would be appreciated (keep it clean though)
Thanks
Links to the parts -
My port multipliers - 2x http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/127523/HARD_DISK_CONTROLLERS_SATA_PORT_MULTIPLIER/Addonics/AD5SAPM.asp
& 2x http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5-5x1-Internal-SATA-II-Port-Multiplier-PM-Dip-Switch-RAID-Bracket-Mounting-/400674308884
(currently 1 of each in use)
SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 Adapter - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NORCO-C-8087-8088L-1-Port-SFF-8087-to-SFF-8088-Adapter-with-Low-Profile-Mounting-/151219892138?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2335686faa&_uhb=1
SFF-8087 to 4X SATA - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-SAS-36pin-SFF-8087-to-4X-SATA-angled-cable-8087-to-Angled-SATA-0-5M-/161276531570?pt=AU_HardDrives&hash=item258cd49372&_uhb=1
Mini SAS 26 cable - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-SAS-26-cable-SFF-8088-to-SFF-8088-cable-1-0M-/161177798022?pt=AU_Television_Accessories&hash=item2586f20586&_uhb=1
My home theatre computer has it's storage in 2 external hardware raid5's for which I am currently using, sata to eSATA adaptor from the motherboard, to eSATA cables to the other case, back to a sata to eSATA adaptor to the port multiplier set up for my raid.
The system works great for me, my raid5 has already saved me from 2 hard drives collapsing, I get great read speeds (~130MB/s), write speeds are as you would expect for a raid5 (~80MB/s) and the plug and play simplicity of my hardware raid is great (drive dies, simply take it out replace it and off you go, continue to use the raid while it rebuilds itself)
Now to the real issue here, the eSATA connection, dodgy as hell, the slightest bump and there it goes, I'm afraid that one day, I'll be writing a heap of info to the raid and suddenly, bam, everything is corrupted.
So I have been thinking and I have found something that I would like to try, using a SFF-8087 to SATA fanout cable from the SATA ports on the motherboard, to a SFF-8087 - SFF-8088 adaptor backplate, through a SFF-8088 cable to another SFF-8087 - SFF-8088 adaptor backplate in the hard drive tower, then back through another fanout cable to the port multipliers, this would also allow me to set up my 2 remaining port multipliers for expansion over the one cable.
I just need to know one thing.. SFF-8087 to SATA fanout cables and SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 adaptors, are they multi directional? Is what I'm thinking going to actually work? I know that fanout cables are usually used only to go from SAS controllers to hard drives but I cannot see why this would not work. This set up may be a little unconventional I know but I don't really wish to fork out the coin for a SAS controller card at this stage.
Any input on this matter would be appreciated (keep it clean though)
Thanks
Links to the parts -
My port multipliers - 2x http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/127523/HARD_DISK_CONTROLLERS_SATA_PORT_MULTIPLIER/Addonics/AD5SAPM.asp
& 2x http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5-5x1-Internal-SATA-II-Port-Multiplier-PM-Dip-Switch-RAID-Bracket-Mounting-/400674308884
(currently 1 of each in use)
SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 Adapter - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NORCO-C-8087-8088L-1-Port-SFF-8087-to-SFF-8088-Adapter-with-Low-Profile-Mounting-/151219892138?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2335686faa&_uhb=1
SFF-8087 to 4X SATA - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-SAS-36pin-SFF-8087-to-4X-SATA-angled-cable-8087-to-Angled-SATA-0-5M-/161276531570?pt=AU_HardDrives&hash=item258cd49372&_uhb=1
Mini SAS 26 cable - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-SAS-26-cable-SFF-8088-to-SFF-8088-cable-1-0M-/161177798022?pt=AU_Television_Accessories&hash=item2586f20586&_uhb=1
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